Ridge aerator for soft roofs - installation and assembly
Sometimes, in an effort to build their home as best and better as possible, people acquire and install unnecessary, useless devices. But more often the opposite happens - buying expensive materials, the manufacturers of which promise that they will serve 50-60 years, homeowners forget about the accompanying accessories that ensure their long-term operation. Few people install aerators on the roof, although their presence directly affects the comfort and service time of the roof. This article will tell you why deflectors are needed, how they work and how to install such a device.
Aerator construction
An aerator or deflector is a device through which heated air escapes into external space. Figuratively speaking, with its help, the house begins to "breathe", being filled with fresh, oxygen-rich air flow. To ensure its free circulation in two ways:
- Naturally. This method consists in the device on the slopes of the roof of dormer windows through which gas exchange takes place. Usually they are located in the middle of the slope. This measure is ineffective, as the heated air rises to the ridge of the roof and stagnates there. In addition, this option is suitable only for the traditional cold attic, as in a residential attic installation of dormer windows is impossible.
- Forced. The principle of forced ventilation is based on the basic physical properties of gases. It is known that warmer air masses rise to the top, so for their removal install ridge aerators on the roof. Through them hot air comes out, freeing up space for fresh.
In modern homes with a residential attic, for which thermal insulation effective insulation was used, it is not enough to equip a ridge aerator for forced ventilation of the soft roof to work, it is also necessary to provide curtain rods and exhaust vents.
Air circulation in the house with a soft roof
To organize ventilation with deflectors, it is necessary to understand how heated air circulates inside the building. In the cold season, it enters the house through doors and windows, heats up in the rooms of the first floor and rises above. As a rule, the attic is located above, which is insulated with several layers of insulating material with a waterproofing film to reduce heating costs. There is nowhere for the air to get out of this almost hermetic room, so it remains there, making the atmosphere stale, moist and uncomfortable for living.
The second aspect of this problem is the roofing material used. The properties of a soft roof are such that when heated in the hot season, the temperature of its surface exceeds 100 degrees. The air, heated from contact with the roof, goes into a vapor state, gradually cooling down and settling as condensate in the inner layers of the roofing pie. Insulation suffers most from condensation. With a single wet its structure is broken, and the insulating properties are reduced in half. Even after drying, the effectiveness of the insulation does not reach the previous level, under the soft roof, the wetting cycles are repeated many times.
Modern durable roofing material is made on the basis of bitumen-polymer mastic, if it does not install aerators, the health hazardous pairs of these compounds settle inside the house, putting the health of its inhabitants in great danger.
Types of aerators
For the organization of forced ventilation in the attic room under a soft roof, there are several models of baffles. Depending on the type of roof and what kind of roofing material is used, you can use one of the options:
- Ridge aerator. This is a kind of air circulation device that is installed on sloping roofs that have a ridge connection. It looks like a corner piece with through holes protected from insects and dust. The aerator for the roof is fixed along the whole ridge and fixed on top of the roofing material. The location of the deflector does not let moisture in, and the air at the same time freely comes out. Installing a ridge aerator is also a spectacular and aesthetic way to waterproof the ridge groove.
- Point aerator. Turned deflectors are suitable for roofs without a ridge, for example, flat or hipped. They consist of 4 parts: a tube, a flask, a filter mesh and a protective umbrella. Point vents are flat and bottle. Flat roofs are installed on flat roofs, and on flat and hipped roof tents. To organize the ventilation, point aerators are evenly distributed on the roof, positioning not far from the ridge at a distance of 15-20 cm. In order to roughly calculate the required number of aerators, you need to take into account that an area of 20-25 square meters. m. requires 1 deflector, but the installation of less than 2 is impractical.
Replace the ridge deflector can vent tape on a sticky basis, it is a corrugated strip of thin metal. It bends and stretches, adjusting to the roof topography, and circulation takes place through an air-permeable membrane.
Functions of aerators
Soft roofing requires the organization of forced ventilation, because without them, it will work out half of the possible service life. Roof aerators are needed to:
- Prevent condensation from settling and wet insulating material. Crude insulation makes the microclimate in the attic uninhabitable due to high humidity, an unpleasant smell.
- To prevent rotting, and later destruction of the wooden truss system due to the harmful activity of microorganisms.
- Remove musty, stagnant air from the attic and let fresh in from the street.
- Maintain the optimum temperature during the summer heat, overheating of the roof.
- Protect soft roofing material from blistering, cracking, deformation and breakthroughs due to excessive overheating.
- To protect households from bitumen fumes, which, when exposed to high temperatures, produces roofing material based on it.
High-quality ventilation, the use of ridge and point aerators makes a soft roof durable, comfortable, safe for the welfare of your family.